Study: Athletes physically decline at 26

It is no secret that athletes’ performances decrease with age. Athletes’ bodies also wear down with age. A French study says they can find when these decreases could start to show up in athletes.

More than 1,000 swimmers, track-and-field athletes and even 100 chess grandmasters took part in the study. The athletes were studied based on the sport that they took part in, and their age were taken into consideration and how old they were when they broke world records. Data from more than 11,000 performances were recorded and the study confirms that at a certain age athletes will notice a decrease in their abilities.

The study shows athletes generally start to see a physical decline at 26-years-old but when it comes to swimmers, their bodies peak at just 21-years-old. When it comes to chess grandmasters their peak is close to 32-years-old. This is because chess relies more on mental sharpness and not physical strength.

When it comes to setting world records in their any given sport, the average age is 26-years-old, which means that athletes in their thirties have a much lower chance at setting world records in any given athletic sport.

According to Medicalexpress, the study also shows that athletes’ performances are influenced by energy consumption as well as technical changes.

The study was conducted by Geoffroy Berthelot and Stephane Len. The two are researchers at the Institut de Recherche bioMédicale et d'Epidemiologie du Sport at INSEP, located in Paris, France.